Better Coordination Could Improve the Provision of Federal Health Care in Hawaii

In Hawaii, the Department of Defense (DOD), through its military services, the Veterans Administration (VA), and the Public Health Service, provide health care to a beneficiary population of about 230,000 people. Because of its location and size, a unique opportunity exists in Hawaii to ensure that federal health care is delivered more economically without sacrificing the quality of care.

The DOD Mid-Pacific Review Committee has not systematically assessed the use of medical and dental facilities in Hawaii, but an interservice assessment of the beneficiary population residing around the various military clinics showed that a more equitable distribution of the work load is possible at considerable savings to the government. The Committee needs specific guidance concerning how to assess the need for increasing or decreasing health care services in particular areas of the State and whether to include the resources of other federal and nonfederal agencies in such assessments. The Committee does not have a clear mechanism to resolve differences of opinion and program emphasis among the services, and it has not received feedback from DOD when it has presented interservice cooperation proposals for specific health care areas. Of major consequence is the opportunity afforded the government by the planned renovation and construction project involving Tripler Army Medical Center on Oahu.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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